Issue:
REINSTATEMENT (REGULAR MEMBERS)
AKIRA SAITO graduated from Waseda University in 1966. He later attended the University of California at Berkeley where he got a Master’s Degree in Journalism in 1968, and joined the Yomiuri Shimbun, where he served in New York and Washington D.C. He returned to the Tokyo office in 1970 as a Foreign News Department staffer and was later posted to the city desk. In 1976, he returned to Washington, covering two widely-publicized sandals – Lockheed and Korea-gate – as well as two presidential elections, later becoming Washington bureau chief until 1996. Although he has “semi- officially” retired, he still considers himself an “active journalist” despite his age.
YOSUKE WATANABE is a senior feature and editorial writer at Kyodo News. Watanabe studied at Sophia University in Tokyo and Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass. U.S. as a Rotary scholar. He joined Kyodo News in 1983, and has been stationed in Washington D.C., Shanghai and Hong Kong. Watanabe was twice the Beijing bureau chief, from 2004-2008 and 2013-2016, where he held posts on the board of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China.
PROFESSIONAL/JOURNALIST ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Brian Covert, Freelance
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Yasuyuki Abe, Hutchison Whampoa Japan Limited
Kazuhiro Bai, Reitaku University
Kiyotake Hara, STEM PLUS JAPAN
Masahiro Ishikawa, System Soft
Masatoshi Sakane, JETRO
Hidenori Takei, Mitsubishi Corporation